Fiorentina vs Spurs - Mauricio's preview

Mauricio Pochettino has described tonight's (Thursday, February 26) Europa League Round of 32, second leg against Fiorentina as 'our first final of the week'.

This huge European tie comes just three days before we take on Chelsea in the Capital One Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday.

However, full focus is on tonight and we go into the second leg at the Stadio Artemio Franchi having drawn 1-1 in the first leg at the Lane last week.

"The Europa League is an important competition and we need to focus to compete in a big game, a tough game," said Mauricio.

"We’ll need to play well because Fiorentina are a good team and they have some very good players, but we are ready and focused for this game.

"I thought we deserved more from the first leg because in the first 30 minutes we should have scored more than one goal, but that’s football, sometimes you deserve more but we didn’t score, so it was difficult to win."

Mauricio feels it will be another open game. "Yes, because Fiorentina play in the same way. This is a good thing for us because we are a team that always thinks about the opponents’ goal and I think both teams play to win and it will be a very attractive game."

Meanwhile, it's a game that means a lot to Mauricio as a number of his Argentine compatriots - including greats Gabriel Batistuta and World Cup-winning captain Daniel Passarella - played at Fiorentina.

"It’s my first time in this stadium and yes, Batistuta, Passarella, Ramon Diaz and Bertoni all played for Fiorentina and for me, it’s a pleasure to be here, an honour to play at this stadium."